is Intel just that much beter?

nightrider1470 · 9 Dec 2014 at 18:38

I don't want to cause a massive flame war here!, but without knowing to much about AMD vs Intel, looking at the AMD CPU`s they look a lot more better for money and offer more cores.

Am looking to put together a water cooling build for gaming and some video editing. Is it Intel all the way for me?... I want to buy the best value CPU and overclock the socks off it on a 3 fan radiator loop

Stas823 · 9 Dec 2014 at 18:48

There are more WC components for intel stuff, its like 100:1 sale for Intel vs AMD.
Intel completely blow AMD out of water when it comes to anything that uses 2 cores i.e most games.

RJC · 9 Dec 2014 at 18:54

Intel even though only has quad cores beat AMD in majority of benchmarks even though they have 6 & 8 cores and also the Intel is a lot more power efficient.

JonJ678 · 9 Dec 2014 at 18:55

Intel is absolutely dominant and has been since the Core range came out years ago. If you're going anywhere near water cooling then bang-for-buck isn't on the radar, but even if it was, you're better off with an out of date Intel than a cuttting edge AMD.

Unless you just don't care how fast or slow the computer is, in which case you probably wouldn't be looking at watercooling and overclocking

edit: @RJC eight core Intel chips have been available for quite a while now and are very fast

RJC · 9 Dec 2014 at 18:59

I was more talking regards Haswell, Ivy Bridge & Sandy Bridge models.

uksoldierboy · 9 Dec 2014 at 19:05

Intel all day if you have the cash.

pastymuncher · 9 Dec 2014 at 19:05

With a thread title like that it won't be long before this thread descends into the kindergarten. Cue comments on Intels prices, locked cpu's and Intel not caring about the enthusiast.

If you want the absolute best performance and don't care about the price then Intel is the way to go.

nightrider1470 · 9 Dec 2014 at 19:08

I do care about price!.... Was hoping an overclocked AMP CPU might beat an expensive Intel 4970k or something

setter · 9 Dec 2014 at 19:08

For a predominantly gaming based system and a bit of video editing thrown in, the haswell i7 is a nice chip. Though tbh, i dont see the point in spending a shedload of money to watercool one. The temps wont be an awful lot better than a medium range air cooler.

mmj_uk · 9 Dec 2014 at 19:22

Intel's quad core parts are superior to AMD's 8 (mini)core parts in the vast majority of cases, I'm sure some AMD fanboys will be along to highlight the few situations where they aren't but AMD themselves have admitted that their modular design was a failure and they are going back to a more conventional design (ie. bigger cores) in the next few years.

nightrider1470 · 9 Dec 2014 at 19:23

setter said:
For a predominantly gaming based system and a bit of video editing thrown in, the haswell i7 is a nice chip. Though tbh, i dont see the point in spending a shedload of money to watercool one. The temps wont be an awful lot better than a medium range air cooler.

I have a 3 fan rad and a 2 fan rad from the past I would like to put in a new build. Do you think am best saving them for GC cooling then?

setter · 9 Dec 2014 at 19:30

nightrider1470 said:
I have a 3 fan rad and a 2 fan rad from the past I would like to put in a new build. Do you think am best saving them for GC cooling then?

If you already have the rads you may as well use them. It will be quieter and much nicer to look at than an air cooler. But due to the haswell chips using poor quality thermal paste below the heatspreader instead of being soldered, they run pretty hot. The heat is trapped below the spreader because of the thick paste so therefore doesnt dissipate as quickly as a conventional soldered chip. Hence why several hundred quid worth of custom watercooling isnt much better than a £30.00 air cooler. You can delid the chip and remove the glue that holds the heat spreader in place, change the thermal paste for liquid metal. But this isnt for the faint hearted, (also invalidates the warranty). But temp drops of 20c arent uncommon from doing this.

joeyjojo · 9 Dec 2014 at 23:10

nightrider1470 said:
Am looking to put together a water cooling build for gaming and some video editing. Is it Intel all the way for me?... I want to buy the best value CPU and overclock the socks off it on a 3 fan radiator loop

This is literally the best use-case possible for a 4 module AMD build.

Get an 8320e. It's £76 cheaper than an i5, will be as good in games, faster in video encoding, great overclocking potential, and the heat won't matter since you're watercooling.

I'd hazard that by the time you need something faster you'll need new waterblocks anyway because the sockets will have changed.

YOUR BASKET
1 x AMD Piledriver FX-8 Eight Core 8320E Black Edition 3.20GHz (Socket AM3+) Processor - Retail £109.99

Boomstick777 · 9 Dec 2014 at 23:22

nightrider1470 said:
is Intel just that much beter?

nightrider1470 said:
looking at the AMD CPU`s they look a lot more better for money and offer more cores.

Yes currently Intel are much better. In the case of AMD's current chips, more cores does not equal more performance.

If you want a decent performing AMD CPU best to wait until 2016. Luckily Intel have you covered until then.

NoNameNoNumber · 9 Dec 2014 at 23:44

Circa 2009 I made the mistake of going AMD with the Phenom II series. Should've just bought the i5. Not a lot has changed, as tempting as the Piledrivers may be the intel is almost certainly a better buy,
And that's an unbiased view

Ragnarok · 10 Dec 2014 at 00:18

I want AMD to be competitive!! I'm an AMD fanboy.

At the lower end of the market they do deliver good cpu power for you money.

The truth is if you want performance you want Intel and if you need mega high end Intel will give it to you for a mega price. AMD is virtually non existent in the high performance sector of the market.

I hope they develop another CPU like how the Athlon was to the Pentium 4 but it's been a while since AMD have made any real step forward while Intel hasn't needed any major innovations since the Core2Duo. The current tick tock formula for Intel just about keeps people happy ( though it's clear PC stay useful lasting a lot longer than they used to) and Intel really doesn't have to push the limits. You know Intel, if they need too, there is 12 core xeon monsters for servers that can be pulled and packaged for the mainstream if necessary to keep the performance crown if the market or competition demands it.

Intel is scary dominant performance wise at the mo.

Also I haven't had an AMD rig since I went core2duo.

Shampoo · 10 Dec 2014 at 09:46

I was AMD up until this summer because they always let me get on board and game at a reasonable cost. But when I had some actual cash and wanted to go bigger they just didn't have anything worth bothering with against Intel, so after about 10 years I just jumped ship and got an i7 4790k.

It would be nice if there was genuine parity and options at the higher end but there just isn't.

CapitalOne · 10 Dec 2014 at 12:36

I'd recommend both. I've got one of each and the I7 is nice and steady and doesn't really need an overclock. The 8320 doesn't really either but it's good fun to see if it can catch up

spoffle · 10 Dec 2014 at 12:39

Stas823 said:
There are more WC components for intel stuff, its like 100:1 sale for Intel vs AMD.

No there isn't.

Intel completely blow AMD out of water when it comes to anything that uses 2 cores i.e most games.

No they don't.

McGraw · 10 Dec 2014 at 12:45

For my uses, Intel is the only option. I wanted good performance in FSX, ARMA 3 and DCS A-10.

Their forums are littered with disappointed AMD CPU users who haven't done their research.